Mission and Firm Philosophy

Paoli & Geerhart, a partnership formed in 1998 by Tom Paoli and Chuck Geerhart, is dedicated to providing first-rate quality representation to injured people and people whose civil rights have been violated.

Our mission: to represent people we really want to help.

Our guiding philosophy: honesty, tenacity, flexibility, optimism, and compassion.

At Paoli & Geerhart the partners collaborate on every case the firm handles, bringing their individual enthusiasm, talent and experience together to provide truly exceptional personal representation to their clients. You can be assured that your case will receive the personal attention of the partners.

Recent News

HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2009 from TOM PAOLI and CHUCK GEERHART!

As we complete our 12th year together, we are grateful for all the opportunities we have had to represent all of our deserving clients. 2009 was another challenging year as we continued to strive to provide the best possible legal representation we can.

On December 10, Tom Paoli won a jury trial in Alameda County against Allstate Insurance. Allstate disputed responsibility and the injuries our client suffered – but the jury believed our client, on both counts. We persevered in forcing the disclosure of the amount of money the defense medical witness earns - half a million dollars a year - working for the insurance industry, allowing us to reveal to the jury his true bias.

This year we continued to prosecute all of our cases with the tenacity and resolve that has allowed us to consistently achieve great results for our clients, and make us all safer. Among our notable results this year:

• Settlement after first day of trial in a Contra Costa auto collision case
• Stabbing case against nightclub and its promoter
• Fall down dark stairway where absentee landlord failed to fix light switch, resulting in badly broken wrist with surgeries
• Trip and fall on Santa Clara sidewalk resulting in broken ankle and surgery
• Policy limit settlement in freeway rollover accident case
• Settlement of case of homeless shelter negligence resulting in our client losing an eye

We also continued to volunteer and give generously of our resources, time and skill to benefit our community.

Tom Paoli continued his pro bono (no fee) work this year by helping a family involved in a highway accident in which their mother was killed. Tom was able to guide them through the process of securing all of the responsible driver’s insurance benefits, and maximize their recovery. He also helped secure a policy limit settlement for a young college student who was badly injured in a highway cross-median head-on accident. Tom also continued his volunteer work with the San Francisco Superior Court as a Early Settlement Program mediator, a Pre-Arbitration Settlement Conference mediator, and as a Judicial Arbitrator.

Chuck Geerhart attended the Consumer Attorneys of California Spring Conference and its annual meeting, attending many seminars by other trial lawyers to hone his trial skills. Chuck has just been named Editor in Chief of Trial Lawyer magazine, the official voice of the San Francisco Trial Lawyers Association. Chuck also continued to volunteer his time and legal skills every month in the San Francisco community at the walk in legal clinics downtown and in Bayview, and at several Project Homeless Connect events. Chuck also served as a court appointed mediator on multiple occasions. For his efforts, Chuck was again named an Outstanding Volunteer in Public Service by the Bar Association of San Francisco (we’ve posted a photo of Chuck receiving his award from Hon. Ron George, the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court– see the end of Chuck’s bio).

In 2010, we will continue to prosecute an ongoing hotly contested wrongful death action against PG & E and its contractors arising out of the tragic collapse of a boiler being demolished at the Hunter’s Point Plant. We are also handling several serious injury auto accident cases, and four civil rights cases, all against the San Francisco Police, for offense ranging from assaults of peace marchers to drawing a loaded gun on a man getting a sweatshirt out of his car trunk. We look forward with you to a successful and prosperous new year!

We continue to be involved in the community, by donating our time for pro bono legal matters, and donating funds to worthy charities and other non-profits in the Bay Area (we’ve added a section on our website on how we support the community).

We would love to keep in touch with all of our clients– please feel free to call so we can catch up. We wish you all a successful, safe and healthy New Year!

Supporting the Community

We continue to be involved in the community, by donating our time for pro bono legal matters, and donating funds to worthy charities and other non-profits in the Bay Area.

The firm and partners of Paoli & Geerhart contributed to the following organizations in 2009:

• Advokids (protecting the legal rights of foster children)
• La Raza/El Centro Legal
• San Francisco Soc. For Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA)
• SF Food Bank
• St. Vincent de Paul Society
• SF Bicycle Coalition
• Raphael House
• Multiple Myeloma Foundation, in honor of our client Audrey Michelle Thomas
• Kingsbury School, Washington, DC (children with learning disabilities)
• Survivors’ Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP)
• The Milo Foundation (Animal Rescue/adoption)
• Legal Aid Society of San Francisco
• Legal Aid Society of San Mateo County
• Eviction Defense Collaborative
• American Civil Liberties Union
• San Francisco Bar Volunteer Legal Services Program
• UCLA Law School
• Cornell University
• San Francisco State University
• USF Law School